I'm not sure it's possible for me to build a PC without cutting my hand on a PCI card or heatsink, but I like fiddling with little components and screws enough to accept some blood. That's why RIMS Racing (stylized "RiMS") caught my eye when it was announced a few weeks ago. I'm not big into motorcycle racing, but I am big into swapping little parts with other little parts, and the motorcycle customization in RIMS looks comprehensive.
Players are able to fully disassemble their motorbike and replace every element.
The announcement trailer that appeared in April didn't include any gameplay footage, though, so I asked publisher Nacon and developer RaceWard Studio if we could see some actual racing. They came through: Check out the first RIMS Racing gameplay trailer in the player above, or over on YouTube.
It looks like a standard, graphically-nice racing game, but the Italian developer says that it's gone all in on simulating its licensed bikes. "Racing conditions, riding style and mechanical status of the components have a direct impact on the motorbike’s behaviour," says RaceWard.
And then there's the most interesting bit, to me: "Players are able to fully disassemble their motorbike and replace every element to achieve the best possible setup by choosing over 500 official components: tyres, discs, callipers, pads, suspension, springs, air filters, exhausts, brake and clutch master cylinders, brake fluids, engine oils, ECUs, fairings... and many more."
The bike in the trailer is the Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory, which features a buff 217 horsepower engine, "integrated winglets," and a "double-layered fairing." Is a double-layered fairing good? I don't know, but I look forward to developing opinions about fairings and saying things like, "Oh, this bike's fairing? Yeah, it's double layered."
We don't get to see the customization system in the new trailer, but here's a screenshot of it (featuring a different bike), as well as some new screenshots featuring the Aprilia:
What we do see in the trailer are two of the game's tracks: Germany's Nürburgring track, "considered one of the most difficult by a large number of drivers," and then a glimpse of the ultra-scenic Atlantic Road in Norway.
RIMS Racing will release August 19 on just about everything: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and of course PC, on both Steam and the Epic Games Store. RIMS has a page on Steam now, if you want to find out more. It'll be interesting to see how it compares to MotoGP21, which just released at the end of April.
